Pearl to Alaska cruise of a lifetime review! 5/31 - 6/7

[wimsikl]

What exactly is Concierge supposed to do for you?

We are in a Penthouse suite on the Jewel and I still am not sure of the purpose of Concierge.

 

I got a great explanation once. The Butler gives you special services when it involves something IN your room, like room service, maintenance issues, Lavazza refills, etc... The concierge gives you special services for things OUTSIDE your room, like priority tender tickets and disembarking, hard-to-get dinner reservations, shore excursion handling to save you time, etc...

 

Now, I will add my two cents from my own experience.

 

1)There are a number of Butlers, Each seems to have maybe around 9 suites. There is only one concierge, who has ALL suites, plus any Platinum passengers in regular cabins. So it would be silly to expect as much attention from your concierge as your butler.

 

2) A butler will do pratically Anything for you, but not Everything for you. People new to suites want some type of hard and fast list. But there really isn't an accurate one. Some things are automatic. Bringing afternoon snacks. (they make a round to everyone). Bringing you ice in the morning and refilling your Lavazza machine. Answering the phone when you call for room service and providing it. Being super friendly every time you see them in the hall which is a lot.

 

But then there are Many special things you can ask for. But you can't ask for All of them. You may luck out and get your actual butler who escorts you onto your ship. You could get a 5 minute suite overview or a 15 minute suite overview. You could ask for room service many times, or only a couple of times. You could have him rush you a ginger ale for nausea. Grab you a specialty restuarant menu. Unpack for you. (BIGGIE).

 

If you use him very little, you tip on the low side. If you use him a lot, you tip on the high side. The lowest I have ever tipped a butler (used fair amount, but wasn't super good) was $150 for the week. The most I've ever tipped (used a fair amount, was extraordinary) was $325.

 

My Best Butler Advice: Since you can't have everything, get the things that matter to you most. I save my butler time for special, picky, frequent Room Service.

 

My Best Concierge Advice: Since you can't have everything, get the things that matter to you most. On my last cruise I engaged her when I lost my hat and the customer service line aboard was an hour long. She met me down there so I didn't have to wait. Skipping an hour long line??? I added $25 to her tip making it $50 instead of $25. People say "I didn't see or use the concierge" But actually EVERY suite guest uses her services. That special lounge where you wait to bard with treats? Concierge. Guided ebarkation? Concierge. Priority Tender and Disembarkation? Concierge. SPecial Cocktail Party for Latitudes and SUites? Concierge. So every suites cabin should give a MINIMUM of $25 in my opinion, and it goes up from there depending on if you use her directly or not.

 

OK, I have NO idea how I got started on this. I have probably violated every CC guideline. But I hope it helps someone!!!

[schipke13]

What exactly is Concierge supposed to do for you?

We are in a Penthouse suite on the Jewel and I still am not sure of the purpose of Concierge.

 

I just got off the Jewel in a Penthouse so I can help answer this. Your concierge should be Florentina and we thought she was great. She was at the check in lounge when we first got to the port and introduced herself. She gave us sheets to fill out if we needed restaurant reservations or shore excursions booked at that time. She took us directly on the boat and up to Moderno's for lunch.

 

We would see her every morning when we went to eat breakfast at Moderno's. She would ask about our cruise so far and, on port days, asked what we would have planned and if we needed priority disembarkation. We would just meet her at Moderno's and she would whisk us away to the unload point and cut us in front of others waiting to get off. A few port days she would be at the gangway to welcome us back to the ship. I think she would have moved us to the front of the line to get back on the ship but we never had a problem with long lines.

 

She would always be at the balcony seating (left side of the theater 7th floor) acting as a bouncer in the Star Dust theater right before showtimes to make sure only suite pax sat there. The sign says "Haven guest and Owner suites only" (or something along those lines) but Penthouse suites could, too. I don't want you to see that sign and think you can't sit up there.

 

As a suite guest, you will get a ton of "mail" everyday. A lot of it comes from the concierge. There will be lots of information about priority disembarkation at ports, invites to parties, etc. She even held a "Disembarkation meeting" on the last sea day to go over what to expect when having to get off the ship in Seattle and for everyone to ask questions.

 

She will pretty much do whatever you need her to do (outside your stateroom) to help make your cruise more enjoyable. I just found her very helpful for just asking questions or advice every morning.

 

Have a wonderful cruise! And I hope you get Rodney as your butler. He was always smiling and happy to get us whatever.

[New2cruise1483]

What exactly is Concierge supposed to do for you?

We are in a Penthouse suite on the Jewel and I still am not sure of the purpose of Concierge.

 

Well I think others gave you a pretty good explanation of that the concierge can do for you. A concierge will also make reservations in specialty restaurants, I also seen somebody have the concierge check in for their flight the next day and print off their boarding passes as well. Also, like I said, every concierge is different and every person can have different experiences with the same concierge. I just didn't see this one as much as our other one. Just my experience this time around.

[New2cruise1483]

Today was our first full day on the ship and was a sea day. The weather really wasn't the best that day, it was rainy and cold for most of the day. We got up and went out to the courtyard and seen menus on the tables out there. I was surprised by this and asked they attendant and he said we could eat out there. This was a very pleasant surprise and something I wasn't aware of. I had the Tahitian French toast, which as always, was very good.

After breakfast we went and wandered around the ship and explored areas around the ship that we didn't get a chance to the day befor. I was really interested in the great outdoors and wish we would've had more of an opportunity to eat out there. I love looking out over the ship's wake, and just being outside on a ship in general. We really didn't get to do that as much as I would've liked today due to the wind and rain. Also due to the weather, it became very evident just how crowded the ship was. Walking through the buffet was terrible and we quickly learned how to avoid it. It was so hard to find a nice relaxing place to just sit and enjoy the ship We usually enjoy the atrium, but there was always a lot going on there and so, naturally, that means a lot of people as well. It became very frustrating for us.

This is also a good spot for me to talk about the elevators. Normally, BF and I figure we are perfectly able bodied enough to take the stairs and leave the elevators for people that really NEED them, such as elderly folks or people in wheel chairs and scooters, or with other health issues. Well this time we had my Dad with me, at 75 years old and having back surgery a little while ago, I wasn't about to expect him to climb several flights of stairs. That being said, it was almost impossible to get an elevator. There were so many able bodied people using the elevators to go one or two floors it was ridiculous. I got so angry watching people with crutches or wheel chairs that couldn't get an elevator because of fore mentioned lazy people. There were times we would put Dad on an elevator and would take the stairs to leave room for people who might actually need it. I have to say, on days that we got back on the ship on the 4th deck, it was not fun to climb ten decks up the the 14th deck to get to our room. Ok, rant over.

Due to the crowds, I was so glad that I decided to book us in the haven. It was so nice to have a place to retreat to just to relax and visit. There was never very many people in there. There have been questions on here asking if the haven is worth it, and for this sailing, I have to say it was definitely worth it to us. We really, really enjoyed this area, as well as the private sundeck when weather allowed.

Dad and I went to a wine tasting at 2 in the afternoon at la cucina. It was a lot of fun and very informative. We learned a lot about the actual process to tasting wine and and also about pairing wines with different foods. We sampled five different wines ( I can't remember for the life of me what they were other than the white Zinfandel lol) and she was small samples of different types of food for us to try with the wines to show how the flavours would react with the he flavours of the wine. We had a slice of apple to represent sweet foods, a slice of lemon to represent sour, some salt that we would put on the lemon to represent an other taste, and peppered Brie cheese to represent spicy foods. We then sampled all the wines with each of the flavours, it really opened my eyes a lot as to how much the food and wine could compliment each other.

Well I'm going to have to stop here for the night and get myself ready for bed. I'll be back tomorrow to do finish up day 2. Have a good night everybody!

[jenseib]

Thanks Everyone!

 

As for the Butler packing or unpacking... that totally freaks this control freak out. I don't even allow my family to do it. LOL. So no he/she won't be doing that for me. :p

 

Good do know about special seating in the theatre. I really don't know how much we will use Concierge. When I booked the room I booked for location and size and wasn't even aware I would have these perks. I am not sure if we will like them or not. We kind of like to do our own thing. But who knows. we may love it!

[New2cruise1483]

If I remember correctly, we had Dinner at O'sheehan's tonight because they had a prime rib special tonight ( somebody please correct me if I'm off on my days, like I said, I forgot to take notes during this cruise so I'm having trouble remembering what happened on what day :o:p). It was suppose to start at 530, we got there at 540, and had about a 30 minute wait. No biggy, just hung out in one of the only empty spaces in the atrium.

It was pretty good, but instead of Au Jus, I was some other sort of weird sauce with it. Not bad, just not what I was expecting. O have to say, even though the food was good, it was difficult to enjoy our meal because they were playing music very loud in the atrium, and we could barely hear each other over it. I wish they would've timed it a little differently if they were having a dinner at that time. I think the show that night was Legends, and we enjoyed it. They had people impersonating Elton John, Madonna and Tina Turner.

If I remember correctly, they had the not so newlywed show tonight at the Spinnaker ( again, please correct me if I have my days mixed up, really kicking myself right now for not atleast saving the dailies to help me keep my days straight lol). Very funny! We enjoyed this show a lot on the first cruise, and enjoyed it again this time! I was also glad Dad got to see it. Afterward, Dad decided to go back to the room to retire for the evening. I walked him back since he hadn't quite learned how to Navigate the ship that well yet lol. I also think that night is when they had the 50's and 60's sock hop. They had a twist competition that night that was fun to watch, and the cruise director and staff did a great job of getting everybody's involved and having fun. BF and I are NOT dancers so this was a fun night to sit back and watch everybody else lol.

I have to say I really loved the Spinnaker, it was easily one of my favorite places on the entire ship. I really loved the views and the venue itself. I really don't think I ever had a drink there though lol. I think we retired to our room at around 11 or 1130 that night. Some times during the night, I heard our neighbors slamming doors and banging around. I mean it was LOUD, and usually lasted awhile. This was the norm for the entire cruise, like I mentioned before. Not something I was very happy about other than that we had a great night's sleep on our wonderfully comfy bed, I love love love the beds they have on these ships :D. That concludes day 2. I will continue with day 3 in Juneau tomorrow. Have a good night everybody!

[New2cruise1483]

So I wake up this morning, peak my head out of the curtains, and what do I see? The beautiful mountains of Alaska! I so SO excited! Our bathtub had a huge picture window above it, so I decided to draw myself a nice hot bath and soak for awhile, enjoying the scenery and snapping pictures. The sun was shining, and I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day. After my bath, we went out and had breakfast in the courtyard. I honestly can't remember excactly what I had, but I'm sure it was delicious as usual lol.

For some reason, BF as back in her room before Dad and I, and was sitting out on the balcony. He says he seen some whales! What?! I missed them! I was so sad, as I that was one thing I was really hoping to see on this trip. We all decided to hang out there for awhile, and what do I see? A water spout! Then a tail! Whales! Yay! We got out our binoculars and watched them for awhile until we were well passed them. Then we decided to head up to the private sun deck for awhile. The views were beautiful up there and I snapped a a few pictures and visited with some people up there that we ended up chatting with frequently throughout the rest of the week.

Then, not too far in the distance, we seen more whales! I was in heaven lol. We decided to see what might be on the other side on the public deck, we seen the Celebrity Infinity passing us going South. We admired some of the scenery on that side for awhile, and then when I looked down, there was a pod of orcas playing next to the ship! What a great day for seeing whales! We went and walked around towards the forward most part of the ship since weather has prevented this the day before. Just wandering around the outside decks of a ship has to be one of my most favorite things to do. The weather was glorious today, I was so happy since it was so dreary the day before.

I knew we were going to be in port at 2, and wanted to be off the ship as soon as possible. We went out to the courtyard at 1245 to eat lunch, but didn't see our attendant anywhere. This was very strange because the menus were out, and he was usually there right away. We waited for a few minutes, and decided to just head down to Moderno's for our lunch. The hostess seated us at a small table, but didn't give us menus or anything. We found this strange as well, and were wondering what happened, and then she comes and says "we have your table ready", we were thinking, what was wrong with this one? I have to say, for whatever reason, service was very slow today. It was frustrating because I wanted to be off the ship right away. We go to the restaurant at 1, and by the time we finished eating, it was just then time to get off the ship

At 2. They were usually much quicker than this, so I'm not sure what was going in that day. Oh well, our bellies were full and we still got off the ship when we wanted.

The plan for the day wa to catch either the white bus or the blue bus to Medenhaull Glacier. I had read on the boards here that we would see the booths to purchase our ticket or other tours and soon as we get off the ship. We get off and as I start to look around. All I see are the NCL excursion buses and shuttle buses to town. I see no tour booths, or anything like that. Now I'm frustrated because I don't know what to do now, and there were people everywhere so it was hard to figure out who to ask what to do. Finally found somebody from NCL, and she told us we needed to take the shuttle into town. Ok crisis over. So for all of you planning to do something similar, you may need to take the shuttle to town, and that is where you will find the booths to purchase your tickets.

We ended up,buying tickets for blue bus round trip for $20 a person, and were lucky enough to find three open seats together to sit down ( instead of having to stand). We left within about five minutes of our arrival at the bus. Our driver had great about telling us about Juneau and some of the buildings and history of the town. At this time I'm busy snapping pictures, and Dad remembers he forgot the battery for his camera! He was so disappointed :(.I can't remember exactly how long the ride was, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour.

M We were dropped off close to the visitor center and directed us as to which trail to take to get to nugget falls and the glacier. The trail is about a mile one way, but very easy. My Dad is 75, and had no trouble what so ever. This area is truly amazing and beautiful. There was ice floating all over, and the glacowas truly awe inspiring with Nugget falls right next to it. There is an area that people can walk out to in order to be next to the waterfall and be even closer to the glacier, however, the path out there was covered with water. That didn't stop some of us though! While Dad and BF opted out, off came my shoes and socks, rolled up my pant legs, and out I went! Holy crap that water is cold (duh lol), I was only in the water for a few seconds at a time, but my feet were aching from the cold with in a couple seconds of being in it lol. It was all worth it though. It was awesome being so close to the glacier and the waterfall, some body was even nice enough to offer to take my picture with the glacier and waterfall behind me.

After I got done there we explored some more of the trail on the way back, there was an area to get some close pictures of the ice floating close by. There was one chick floating close to the shore, so I just had to grab a hold of it so BF could snap my picture lol. Then we headed up to the visitor center for awhile, I think admission was only 3 or 4 dollars a person. There was a lot of great information in there about how glaciers are formed and how much Mendenhall had retreated over there years.

We decided to head back to town at around 5 in order to give us time to explore the town for awhile. We meadered in a few stores in order to buy s few souvenirs, and then decided we were thirsty for a beer. We debated on the Red Dog Saloon, but as expected, it was PACKED, so we opted out of that one. Walking down a few blocks we found the Lucky Lady, which I'm glad for because it seemed like more of a local hang out, and less like a tourist attraction. After finishing our beer and giving Dad a rest, we decide to head back to the ship for dinner and beat the rush of others. We had dinner at Indigo that night. I had the spaghetti bolognese, but I have to say, I really didn't care much for it. Dad and BF both enjoyed their dinners though.

Tonight was the ventriloquist in the Stardust theater. He was hilarious! He really did a great job of bringing his puppets to life. Afterward Dad decided to retire for the evening, and if I remember correctly, tonight they had where the guests danced with the professional dancers in a completion at the Spinnaker. Something like dancing with the stars, but I don't remember what it was called lol. Tim Kaminsky hosted it with two other people, and it was a lot if fun to watch.

I think I went back to the cabin at around 11 that night while BF stayed back and listened to music. I set out alarm (or so I thought) for 630 the next morning in Skagway. That stupid alarm clock went off at 2 am! I was not happy, BF couldn't figure it out either! We finally gave up on it and just set the I'm room wake up call. I finally get back to sleep, then I here the same slam! Crash! Bang! Slam! Of our neighbors again! Uhhggg. I finally get to sleep from that and our wake up call for the morning goes off. Not a very restful night. Well I'm done for now, as I have a ton of stuff to do today. I'll try to continue with Skagway later tonight. Have a good day everybody!

[koalagurl]

Great review so far! We are headed up in a few weeks and so glad you mentioned binoculars. I definitely need to pack some!

[New2cruise1483]

Great review so far! We are headed up in a few weeks and so glad you mentioned binoculars. I definitely need to pack some!

 

Thank you so much for the compliment! Binoculars are definitely a must, as well as an extra camera battery, as you wil be taking A LOT of pictures lol!

[mush71]

Loving your review. Did you ever meet the noisy neighbors next door? Do you know what they were banging at 2 am? That would have drove me crazy. Sorry you had to deal with inconsiderate neighbors.

[New2cruise1483]

Loving your review. Did you ever meet the noisy neighbors next door? Do you know what they were banging at 2 am? That would have drove me crazy. Sorry you had to deal with inconsiderate neighbors.

 

Thanks for the kind words :).No, we never did meet them, which probably is a good thing as BF was NOT happy about it lol. I have no clue what they were doing, but it was EVERY morning between 2 and 4 am. It sounded like either their main cabin door, the door to the second bedroom, their balcony door or maybe the sliding door that separates the master bedroom from the living room. Either way, very annoying.

[jenseib]

I would've done some banging back! ;)

[New2cruise1483]

I would've done some banging back! ;)

 

Lol! The thought did cross my mind :D. Like I said, it's probably a good thing we never met them.

[New2cruise1483]

So, today we had an early start since we got into port around 7 I think it was. I was super tired after not getting much sleep the night before. We all got dressed at had breakfast out in the courtyard as usual. I believe I had the waffle with strawberries and whipped cream with a side of bacon. Me with my insatiable sweet tooth, with became my favorite breakfast lol. I forgot to mention in my other posts, but the spot we met with the concierge for priority disembarkation at port was just downstairs on Moderno's. I'm also going to comment on something about our concierge here. Our concierge on the previous cruise had sent us a letter telling us where to meet to be lead off at port, this one however, nothing. We had to track her down and find out where to go. I was just the little things that made us feel that this concierge wasn't as up to par as our previous on.

I had booked us a tour with Chilkoot Charters, so we had a meeting time at 815 am, so we headed down to Moderno's at around 8, and were led down right away. When we got off the ship, it was pouring rain and very windy, we were disappointed, but glad that atleast we didn't have to be outside and would be in a nice warm mini bus. Our guide Bruce was waiting right at the dock for us, and had the van nice and warm for us. I'm going to talk about Bruce for a minute. He was fantastic! He was very informative and had a great self of humor. If we seem wildlife he would stop at even turn around and go back so we could look at them, and made sure we had plenty of stops to take pictures or just look around. He told us all about the history of Skagway and just about the town in general.

We collected the rest of the people in our group ( I'm guessing about 24 of us total) from different ships and we were on our way. He gave us a quick tour of the town highlights before heading out of town. A little ways out of town we stopped off to take pictures of the beautiful Pitchfork Fallls. It was really beautiful and if I remember correctly, Bruce said it was about 3000 feet from start to finish. We loaded back up into the bus, and were on our way again. He told us more about the history of the gold rush, and what people really had to go through to try to strike it rich. I can tell you this, back then, those people were TOUGH! He talked more about the scenery as we drove along and was more than happy to answer questions that we all had.

He showed us a lake pronounced Too Shy lake, but I'm not sure if the spelling though. It was 37 miles long, and not a single houses n it! He stopped at a campground on the lake shore and let us take pictures and admire the lake. It was still rainy and cold so we weren't there long lol. We continued on to Fraser to cross the border and let them look at all our passports and also for a much needed potty break.

We continued our way, I'm not sure for how long, and somebody shouted Bear! Bruce turned around and went back to seek if we could still see it. We could barely see this big black bear back in the brush. We weren't able to get pictures, but still got a glimpse. Then a little while longer and we heard somebody shout bear again! Looking hard into the brush and could make out black fur, well then that black fur started walking out towards the open, and then we see two more little black balls of fur! A sow with twin cubs! How cool, well we weren't the ones who noticed the family. Some people pulled in front if us with a rental car. No biggy, but then these IDIOTS had the bright idea to get out of the car and start walking towards this mama bear and her cubs! Seriously?! How stupid can people be? Lucky for them she just turned back toward the brush. If they wouldn't have done this though, more than likely she would have brought her babies out farther and everybody would've got to enjoy them more. However, this isn't the only time we seem somebody be stupid with this same bear. More on that later.

We continued passed the world's smallest dessert on Carcross and up to Emerald Lake. The weather had cleared up at this point, and was starting to get very pretty out. We were able to see the beautiful green hue of the lake. Bruce explained how the lake got that color, I can't remember exactly, but what he was saying was that we were actually seeing the bottom of the lake. After that we headed down to Caribou Crossing for our lunch. We were starving at this point, and more than ready to eat! There were other tours there, but they had plenty of seating. They served BBQ chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and homemade donuts that were delicious! After eating we ventured out to the area that had all the live animals. They had goats you could feed for 25 cents, an alpaca, some miniature horses and miniature donkeys. They had a normal sized horse there, and being the horse nut that I am, beeline do straight for him lol. He had the life that horses dream of, being petted and fed treats all day lol. This is also where they had the dog cart rides and the husky puppies to play with. You could tell the dogs really loved what they do and were raring to go, and when one cart would leave, they would get quite, like the were disappointed for not being picked lol. The puppies were so darn cute, they were snoozing away while people were holding them. Then we went inside and looked at the stuffed animals. There were some pretty interesting things in there, a mammoth, a couple different species of bison, one of which is extinct, the largest polar bear every mounted and a variety of other things as well. We had a little over an hour there to enjoy it before heading back to Carcross.

We stopped at the little town of Carcross for a few minutes. We stopped at a little store there, which I guess had been there since the town was first founded. I have to say I would have rather stopped and looked around at the desert instead, but oh well, still a neat little stop. After this we made our way back to Fraser to catch the train back to Skagway

So on our way back somebody shouts bear again. It was the same sow with twins! She was out quite a ways and we were all admiring her and her babies from within the bus, and then stupid people strike again. This woman gets out of her car, WITH HER CHILDREN, and starts walking towards this bear! This time I'm furious, if you want to be stupid like that, and that bear gets protective and mauls you, I consider that Darwinism. However, DO NOT drag you helpless children into your stupidity! It was very hard for me not to break out of that bus, smack that woman, and take her children from her. Thanks goodness her cubs were on the other side of her, so she just turned away and herded her babies away into the brush. We were all just shaking our heads at this.

The rest of the way to Fraser was without incident, and everybody was relaxed and sleepy with full bellies. Well that's all for tonight folks. I've got another cruise in September to plan for, and other stuff to take care. I will try to finish day three tomorrow. Have a good evening everybody!

[jenseib]

How exciting to see mama bear and her babies...yes people are stupid. I can't believe how many people think it's ok to walk towards the bears.

[New2cruise1483]

How exciting to see mama bear and her babies...yes people are stupid. I can't believe how many people think it's ok to walk towards the bears.

 

The one that got me the most was the one who had her kids with her! We were very happy to see her though, and got some great pictures :-)

[New2cruise1483]

So we caught the train at Fraser BC, to head back into Skagway. We were a few minutes early so had time for another potty break, and then we had to get back onto the bus to wait for the train. Hint to my fellow CCr's, on the way back, make sure to get seats on the right side of the train for some of the best views. Before we left a customs officer had to look at our passports again. So, moral of the story, ALWAYS have your passports easily accessible! Within a few minutes we were off. The train really doesn't go that fast, so it's easy to take on all the beautiful scenery. They had somebody narrating the entire time about the different things we seen, and a little more about the history of the area. We got to see a glacier off in the distance, and the original trail that the gold seekers used to get their goods across into the Yukon. They showed us a grave marker that memorialized a couple of miners and their animals that were crushed by a giant slab of granite during a blasting accident. This slagpb is HUGE, and do to it's size, their bodies were never recovered from beneath it. We seen the old train trestle they use to use, and several gorgeous waterfalls. I have to say that the train ride is definitely a must do! They had souvenirs they were selling, which BF bought the bundle that included a book, a DVD and a hat. I stood out in the platform for awhile so get some better pictures of the train itself and some of the scenery that I couldn't see as well from the inside. Bruce, our guide from Chilkoot Charters, met us at the train stop in Skagway and dropped those of us that wanted off in town and then took the rest back to their ship. We walked around town for awhile to buy a few things ( BF's mom like us to bring her back magnets from everywhere we go lol), and just to look at the buildings. It has a very old times feel to it and is really a fun town to walk around in. We went back to the ship at around 6 I think it was because BF wanted to make sure and get back in time for the show at 730 which I believe was Tim Kaminsky tonight. BF decided he wanted to brave the buffet tonight. I was very leery of this, because this cruise, the buffet was a complete madhouse at any given time. I don't remember it being that way on our previous cruise on the Dawn. So we went and selected our food, I grabbed some jerk chicken with some fruit, pretzel rolls of course, and I don't remember what else lol. All of which was very good and all of us had ice cream afterward. We headed for the show and as usual, was hilarious! It was the Wizard of Oz routine that we seen before, but we still got a good laugh out of it, and Dad was cracking up the whole time. I honestly can't remember what we did afterward though lol. I'm really irritated with myself for not taking notes or keeping my dailies to help me keep track of my activities :-(. Maybe I'll take a peek at some dailies people have been posting and help jog my memory lol. That's it for tonight and hopefully I can give a better account if our activities lol. Have a good night everybody!

[New2cruise1483]

Sorry for the delay, I hate when life gets in the way of CC, just kidding ( kind of lol :p). I'm not sure what time it was, but Dad woke us up this morning with " wake up kids! We're in glacier country!". So I get up and peek out side, and the weather was TERRIBLE! It was pouring rain, very windy and very foggy, so it was very difficult to try to enjoy the scenery. Dad had the TV tuned into the channel where they broadcast the ranger speaking, so we knew exactly what glacier we were approaching etc. I think the first one we're came across I think we Margery glacier. We were fairly close to it, and since we were port side, we got first glimpse of it. It was awesome getting to to hear the sounds coming from the glacier and getting such great views of it. We enjoyed this glacier from our balcony for the most part and also had breakfast served in our room that day so as we wouldn't miss anything. The captain spun the boat in a 360 so both sides of the ship got good views, I think we spent about an hour here if I remember correctly. BF and I went up on the Haven sundeck to try and get some good views, but it was raining way too hard. I think we were out there maybe a minute at were already getting soaked.

Afterward we headed to the Spinnaker to see what the Rangers had on display, and see what other views we could see. It was PACKED in there, it almost seemed like the entire ship was trying to fit in there! So word of advice, if you want to view Glacier Bay from the Spinnaker, get there early to get a good spot. We weren't there very long, because I really don't do well with crowds.

Next it seemed like the rain eased up a little, and since I had my rain jacket with me, we decided to head out to,the bow of the ship. I decided I HAD to do this because I've always wanted to do this and I didn't know if I would ever have another chance to again lol. We were going by another glacier ( I don't remember which one), so it was cool to be able to see it from this angle. The weather was still WAY to crappy to be outside for too long, so after about 5 minutes we headed back inside.

I got a Glacier coffee from Java cafe, (which was awesome by the way, and came in a souvenir cup ) when Dad and BF decided,they were hungry. So we ironically, we ended up back outside at the great outdoors ( go figure lol :rolleyes:!, and they grabbed what they wanted and we found a set under cover, and was actually not too cold. It was great because there wasn't a lot of people there and got to atleast try to enjoy the views. It was very hard to see anything do to the fog though. After lunch we decided to head back to our room for awhile and relax. Dad wanted to lay down in his room for awhile since he was up way before us that morning and was ready for a nap lol.

I believe today was the day I finally go to enjoy the pool and the hot tub in the haven. I really loved this area, it was a great retreat from the craziness of the rest of the ship. Every day of this cruise, I kept saying how happy I was to have had access this area lol. After awhile if going back and forth between the hot tub and the pool, I layed on one of the loungers in there, and actually ended up falling asleep lol.

At three, Dad and I headed for the wine lovers musical. They sat us at a table with two other ladies we didn't know, which was perfectly fine. They were great company and very nice to talk to. It was very entertaining, and Dad and I both enjoyed it. It was ou second wine tasting this week ( I know, I know we were pushes this week lol), so we were feeling quite spoiled lol.

We went and found BF in the casino and then hung out at the piano bar for a little while waiting till our dinner time at teppanyaki at 530. I was so excited for this because I remembered how good it was on the Dawn. I was trying to decided on the seafood or the chicken with udon noodles. Really wanted lobster, but really don't care much for scallops or calamari. Hmm, what to do? Ah ha! I'll try ordering the chicken with a lobster tail as an extra! It worked! They let me! I was a very happy camper at this point lol. Dinner was fantastic as usual, and we were beyond stuffed by the time we finished.

Tonight was the Man From Mars in the Stardust. This show was so much fun for us. The magic and comedy was very entertaining, but the aerial acrobats were an amazing touch to this. They are a husband and wife team, and we're very good in our opinion.

Afterward we decided to just go to the Sugar cane bar tonight and visit with our favorite bartender, Sohini tonight. She and her husband both work on the ship, he works down at Magnums. Tonight she called him up to meet all of us, they are such a cute couple! We always enjoy talking with her, and were very sad to think that after this week, we wouldn't have her to talk to anymore :(.

We decided to call it a night since Ketchikan was early the next day. We were fairly disappointed with today. It was suppose to be the highlight of the whole itinerary, but the weather was too bad to really see or enjoy what Glacier Bay has to offer. Also, not surprising with our luck, it had been beautiful there the weeks prior! That's just our luck though, I always joke that we could fix the drought in California by going down there for a month because it would pour rain the entire time we're there! Lol. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to talk about Ketchikan. Have a good night!

[kalypso333]

Exhausted.

[300dtc]

We were just in Alaska too and also tried to go to the Red Onion, but it was so hot that day and it was packed! We also stumbled across the Lucky Lady and had the same experience that it was much more of a locals kind of place. Everyone was really nice there and it was an enjoyable time. The place that really excited me was in Ketchikan, we were headed back to the ship and saw the Ketchikan Moose Lodge...now i am a member and had my card with me and it was really fun, we were treated like honored guests and given a Moose lodge pen with the lodge number and address and compared to all the tourist spots to have a cold one, the member prices are great! I only wish the DH had remembered to take his Elk membership card, since we saw one of those in the other 2 ports! Oh well, maybe next time :)

[mush71]

Thank You for the heads up about the lounge being so crowded at Glacier Bay. I understand we are going to be on a cruise with A LOT of people but working in NYC I try to stay away from REALLY crowded areas. Looking forward to relaxing on the balcony at Glacier Bay:D

[New2cruise1483]

We were just in Alaska too and also tried to go to the Red Onion, but it was so hot that day and it was packed! We also stumbled across the Lucky Lady and had the same experience that it was much more of a locals kind of place. Everyone was really nice there and it was an enjoyable time. The place that really excited me was in Ketchikan, we were headed back to the ship and saw the Ketchikan Moose Lodge...now i am a member and had my card with me and it was really fun, we were treated like honored guests and given a Moose lodge pen with the lodge number and address and compared to all the tourist spots to have a cold one, the member prices are great! I only wish the DH had remembered to take his Elk membership card, since we saw one of those in the other 2 ports! Oh well, maybe next time :)

 

Thanks for joining me! I have to say I loved the town of Ketchikan. There was just something about it, even though I can't really put my finger on it. I loved creek street, and just the whole town in general.

[New2cruise1483]

Thank You for the heads up about the lounge being so crowded at Glacier Bay. I understand we are going to be on a cruise with A LOT of people but working in NYC I try to stay away from REALLY crowded areas. Looking forward to relaxing on the balcony at Glacier Bay:D

 

I will earn you, if the weather is poor, the ship will be crowded almost everywhere :(. You will definitely appreciate you own private balcony on this trip, that's for sure! I would recommend visiting the Spinnaker from time to time throughout the week though, as it is wonderful for viewing with all the floor to ceiling windows.

[New2cruise1483]

This morning at 4am, just like clock work, we got to enjoy the banging and shenanigans of our lovely neighbors. After almost a week, this had gotten REALLY old. So this morning I really didn't have a whole lot planned other than catching the bus to Totem Bight park and then walking around Creek Street. We were a little lazy gettin up this morning which I later regretted since our time there was so short. Upon first glance it was raining and very cloudy out, so we were a little bummed. I just grabbed my rain jacket and decided to try to make the best of it. At this point I realize I can't find the spare battery to my camera anywhere! I had my Dad pick up a spare for me since I forgot to before hand and there isn't a decent battery store in the town where we live. I'm seriously upset at this point because I could've sworn I put it in my pants pocket the night before. I tore our cabin apart looking for that stupid thing, and I never did find. To this day I have no idea what could have happened to it. We had breakfast as usual out in the courtyard, and then down to Moderno's to get off the ship.

I decided to just use the public bus to get around. They have an information center right as you get off the ship to help you navigate a little bit. If you're going to Totem Bight park, you will want to catch the silver line north. It runs at 26 minutes after the hour from the bus stop close to berth 3. Here is where we had a little confusion. The lady said to go across the street and the stop was by the totem bar. So we cross the little side street the and got to front street. There is a bus stop on that side, however, that is for the green line south. Which BF and I "debated" on being the right one. I knew it wasn't, so decided to settle it by going into a store and asking for help. I have to say the lady was a little sarcastic. Her reply was " where it says bus stop", in a fairl snotty tone. I look around all over and see nothing with those words on it. I ask her again,where is the sign? Same snottiness "across the street there it says bus stop". I look again, I squint and look really hard, and see a big 2 hour parking sign, and above that, a little bitty sign with a picture of a bus on it. I said you mean the one where it says 2 hours parking? Her reply, " yes, it says bus stop". Whatever, just a little picture of a bus you could barley see. So, for all of you wishing to use this bus, you will need to cross front st, and then the bus stop is in front of a little store called Jewelry Land. It isn't far at all to walk, and is very easy.

The bus came right on time and I paid our fair. Make sure you have exact change because they don't carry any extra. It's $1 for adults and .50cents for seniors. If I remember right, the ride out there was about half an hour, and they do make other stops along the way, it is public transportation after all.

Upon our arrival we found the information center and grabbed some brochures to show tell us about the park and the different totems in it. They did have a tour going on at that point, but with the crowds we endured the day before, we decided to do it on our own. It's very interesting to see and read about all the different totems. It is situated right in the water, so you can get some good photo opportunities and we also seen an eagle perched on a piece of driftwood out on the beach. I'm going to say it took us about an hour to look around. The bus back into town comes by at 13 after each hour.

I think it was about 1013 when we headed back to town to make sure we could look around. The weather had turned around and it was nice and sunny out for us. I can't remember where it was exactly, but we had to transfer to the free shuttle to get dropped off where the cruise ships dock if we didn't want to go with the bus any farther. After getting back to the docks, we decided to make our way to creek street. I really enjoyed walking around Ketchikan, it was just such a cool little town. Creek street has a lot of shopping of course, but it really is pretty how the creek runs right in front of the buildings. We found a magnet for BF's mom here, and then decided to make our way back towards the central part of town.

At a this point, all three of us had to pee, BAD lol. In our desperation to find a bathroom, we stumbled across the southeast Alaska discovery center. It was $5 per person for admission, at this point I probably would've paid $20 a person just to use the restroom lol. It ended up being a really cool place to look around and just hang out. It had all types for exhibits to look at talking about the history of the town and Alaska in general. They had several animal pelts to touch, and a few other interactive things where if you pushed the button it would tell you about whatever it was you were looking at.

We probably spent a good hour there before continuing downtown. We found a store where I bought a T shirt and bought Dad a really nice fleece lined, waterproof jacket. We headed back to the ship, and they have a sign there that says short cut to berth 3. Actually, it's just a shopping trap, and a very crowded one at that lol. We made our way through fairly quickl, and went up to a our room to relax and enjoy the balcony? We watched sail away from the sundeck and got to see several float planes, and see even more of Ketchikanon our way out. BF wasn't feeling the best, so while we was laying down, Dad and I just sat out on the balcony and visited for awhile. Tonight, they were performing "Swing" in the Stardust, but Dad and BF weren't too interested in it, so we didn't go.

Tonight I INSISTED on eating at Summer Palace. I loved the Venetian on the Dawn, and knew it wouldn't be much different on this ship. I love, love, love this dining room. I love the opulence. I love the elegance. I just think it is so beautiful. If I had my way, we would eat there every night of the cruise lol. However, since it is considered the more " formal" dining room we feel obligated to dress at little nicer, and BF isn't wild about the whole dressing for dinner thing

lol. We went down at 630 I think it was and had about a 15-20 minute wait, where we sat in the Bliss lounge. No biggy since we weren't on a schedule of any sorts.

When our beeper went off, we headed to the dining room we noticed there were several people in just jeans and Tshirts being let in. Both dad and BF looked at me and said "I thought we had to be dressed nice for this one?" , I told them that I thought so too. So does anybody have any insight to what is actually correct? I had a sirloin strip steak, with a Chicken salad starter, and the white chocolate raspberry thingy bob. All of which was delicious.

After dinner we went back to the room, so as BF could get into his comfy " regular clothes" and I could get comfier shoes on lol. I think tonight we were actually able to sit in the atrium and listen to music for awhile.

Tonight at 1030 in the Spinnaker they had "Liarsville" with Tim Kaminsky, our cruise director dingo Dave a and Jim the piano man. Dad was beat, and decided to go to bed, so it was just BF and I tonight. We were able to snag some seats on the stools that sit up high and had a decent view of what was taking place. This was hilarious! We alsways enjoy Tim Kaminsky, and this would be no different. After a few good laughs we decided to hit the hay, we had an early start and were tuckered. Hope everybody is enjoying this so far, and again, I'm so sorry I can't do pictures and my forgetting to take notes :D. Have a good evening everybody!

[New2cruise1483]

So today was Victoria. We knew we wouldn't get into Port until 6 tonight, so we had a very relaxing morning. We didn't make it out and about on time for breakfast in the courtyard, so we just grabbed some of the goodies they have out there like a couple of Danishes, some fruit and some coffee. The first part of the morning we didn't do much besides try to get all of our stuff together, and try to get things together that we knew we would in Victoria. We decided to eat lunch in Moderno's this afternoon, and I have to say, this was the SLOWEST service we received throughout he entire cruise. It was really strange, because it seemed like everybody's food all came out at the same time. I mean everybody's, it took a good half hour to 45 minutes to get our food. I wonder if they were having some sort of difficulty in the kitchen or something

We finished our lunch just in time to head to the Stardust to watch the matinee with Tim Kaminksy. He did his usual stand up routine and was hilarious as usual. After this, we headed straight up to the Spinnaker to watch "Magic and Mayhem with the Man From Mars". We got up there almost right away, and still were lucky to find a place to sit! We needed up at one of the tall tables in the back. This wouldn't have been an issue at all, if not for the fact of one inconsiderate woman in front of us. She placed her child in the stool, and then stood off to the side ensuring that our view was almost totally blocked. From time to time were able to see around her and catch bits and pieces of the show. I will comment really quick one thing I didn't care for in this lounge, there are a few thick posts, and some places are positioned in such a way as most of what you see is the post. I'm thinking that they could dramatically improve this by simply rearranging there tables a little bit. We did enjoy what little bit we could see though, and it really was a neat show.

I wanted us to eat dinner before docking in Victoria, so as we wouldn't be hungry while walking around. I insisted on Summer Palace again, since I only got to eat there one other time on this cruise lol. I order the lasagna which was very good, and we finished just in time to go and get out of our dinner clothes and into our walking clothes to head into port.

We had absolutely no plans today other than just walking around and exploring. We caught the shuttle bus into town which, if I remember correctly, was $10 per person around trip. It was fun since it,was a double decker bus and we had never been on one before lol. On the way to Town,we passed the Grand Empress Hotel, I thought it was so pretty and wanted a picture. So I get my camera out and try to turn it on, nothing. What? I know I charged the stupid battery. I open up the battery compartment and reheat do I see? It's not there! What?! At that moment I can visualize my battery nestled in the charger in our room. Crap! So I got no pictures of Victoria:(. I was so disappointed, I thought it was a very beautiful city but had no way to prove it to other people.

Anyway, moving on. The shuttle dropped us off at 3rd at and Fort at in front of a gelato store. We went and found a magnet for BF's mom right away and continued on our adventure. We decided to make our way to China Town. I have to,say, I was expecting a bit more, but it was close to 7 at this point, so a lot of places weren't open anymore. We did find this really cool, tiny little alley there that had a few shops in it. After that we went to Bastian square, this was a pretty cool area as well that had a restaurant right down on the water. We walked a little farther and seen the masts of two older looking sailing ships. They looked like something they would use for a tour or something. Dad decided he needed a rest, so while he rested I Went and got a closer look at them and got some pictures with Dad's camera as well. As I turned around, I noticed that I had a great view of the Empress Hotel, so I was able to get some great pics on Dad's camera for him. After sitting and relaxing for awhile, we decided to start making our way back to the shuttle stop. I decided I had to have some gelato, as it is one of my favorite things. Well, come to find out, they didn't allow food in the shuttles, so we had to wait till I was done before heading back lol. I have to say, I wouldn't mind coming back and visiting the city for a few days and have time to see and enjoy everything the city has to offer.

Once we got back to he docks,I realized I had a great opportunity to use Dad's camera to finally get a full side shot of the Pearl. I had been waiting for this all trip! I got my pictures and we chatted with some locals for a few minutes, then Dad and I decided to find BF and head through security. First off, I couldn't find BF anywhere. So I'm looking and looking and starting to get irritated. Suddenly he appears out of the blue, and said he had already been through once and was headings of the ship when he seems us looking for him and decided to let us know where he was lol.

Some people had a few small booths set up before going through security, one of which sold these really cool wooden magnets. I decided aim had to have one and after making my purchase I reach into my back pocket to get my key card, and it wasn't there! I was instantly in full blown panic mode, I'm mean seriously freaking out! I always put it in my back pocket, well I also had my map back there so I thought for sure that it fell out at some point when I pulled out the map to look at it. I'm almost in tears at this point. Finally I check all of my pockets, and low and behold, it was in my jacket pocket! A wave of relief rushed over me, but as upset as I was, it took me awhile to calm down.

We went back to our room and just relaxed for awhile and looked out over the city. I finished getting our stuff together, and got our suit case plus Dad's out in, the hallway for pick up. BF and I decided to go to Joker's Wild in the Spinnaker tonight, but Dad decided he was tired and decided to stay behind.

We got there early enough that we were able to get decent seats, and got settle. For those that don't know, Joker's Wild is hosted by Tim Kaminsky, and is where the guests are the ones telling the jokes. There were a few people brave enough to go up, and Tim really did try to get people involved, but for the most part, people really weren't really into it so it was a bit of a let down.

We got back to the room, and as we open the door, Dad tells me he has been in a panick. Uh oh, what now? He thought he had lost his cell phone and had been searching for it almost the whole time we were gone! Luckily he found it and was starting to wind down. I told you, Dad and I are masters at losing and forgetting things lol.

We made it to bed a little before midnight, and we were beat. Of course, our evening wouldn't be complete without the crash! Bang! Slam! Of our lovely neighbors at 4 am lol. I will try to finish this up tomorrow with embarkation and a few final thoughts. Have a great evening!